“Her son took me to one side and told me she was bruised. It’s on record, it’s not something we invented.

“She put up with a lot. Tommy was physical with his wife and she gave as good she got.

“He did try to replicate that with Mary but she was not the same person and it looked worse than it was.“Drink was a huge influence. The quantities were enormous by all accounts.”

Nye, who also wrote TV comedy 'Men Behaving Badly', did not speak to Cooper's remaining family, however, and said he had 'reservations' about writing in the scenes.

“His daughter was quite elusive. She does not want to see her parents being trashed on screen,” he said. “You do worry.”

The drama is broadcast on Easter Monday on ITV. [Daily Mirror]

Also in today's press

TV bird expert Bill Oddie has spoken about his battle with hearing loss, after he stopped being able to hear the calls of certain birds. “An audiologist tested me thoroughly with sonograms and also played me some bird calls on a phone app he had – including a goldcrest which I couldn’t hear – and the resulting graph showed clearly that I was losing a few of the top frequencies,” he said. “I still waited six months before finally getting the [hearing aid] fitted. But it’s in now and, miraculously, the calls I couldn’t hear have returned, which is a fantastic feeling.” [Daily Mirror]

The son of one of the victims of Harold Shipman has told how he still thinks the GP was a good doctor, despite killing his father. Jack Shelmerdine told a Channel 5 documentary crew, making a film to mark ten years since Shipman's suicide: "It’s an odd situation that he killed my father and that I still think he was a good doctor The two don’t seem reconcilable. I can’t explain the attitude I have. I mean, logic says you should hate the man but I don’t know. It is murder, but I would like to think of it as euthanasia. Twisted logic. That’s life.” [Metro]

Alan Titchmarsh has said that he holds no ill will after Paul O'Grady accused Titchmarsh of stealing ideas from his chat show to use on his own. “I don't bear him any animosity, but I don't know why he got so hot under the collar about it. If you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything at all,” he said. [The Sun]